Exemplary embodiments herein relate to a device for testing and enhancing one's skill at hitting a target with a game piece. In particular, the present disclosure herein is directed to a shooting-skill amusement device employing a basketball hoop and backboard mounted on a carriage that moves the hoop across a support surface in response to a successful shot.
A variety of basketball-type amusement games are known. Most of these games include stationary basketball hoops and backboards which are mounted within partially enclosed areas. Players are positioned at a set distance from and directly in front of the fixed hoops for shooting basketballs. The basketballs are returned to the players via an inclined surface beneath the basketball hoop. The basketballs usually remain, en masse, at the bottom of the inclined surface until shot at the basketball hoop by the player. Play continues until a timer-activated automatic mechanism intercepts the basketballs on an upper portion of the inclined surface and precludes them from returning to the player. A scoring device calculates the number of successfully shot basketballs and permits the player to compete with himself or herself or another.
Other known automated basketball-type amusement games include basketball hoops and backboards which are rotatable or movable towards or away from players. The basketball hoops and backboards are generally enclosed within a box-shaped frame or housing. These games were developed for presenting players with a variety of different angled shots and distances from the players to the basketball hoops and backboards. While the known movable basketball games present players with a variety of shots and are an improvement over the games having stationary hoops and backboards, they are generally less than satisfactory for numerous reasons. The known movable basketball games require and occupy considerable space for their assembly and operation, which is particularly problematic when those games are intended for use in areas of limited space. With the known movable basketball games, it is difficult to control the delivery and return of basketballs one at a time to players. Instead, basketballs are usually returned to players en masse. Further, the mechanisms which move the known movable basketball hoops and backboards generally are complicated and expensive.